Seymore Ducan lil59: Initail review

[stephen]

Okee-Dokee. I got the lil59, and installed it into partscaster, and I only got a chance to play for about a half hour on my sons amp: its a G40V too, with all the same mods as mine, but his has a Carvin 12" model of a Celestion Vintage 30 (I use an EV12):

Dialed in a good clean tone and I could still tell that this was a Telecaster. But it what was overwhelmingly noticeable, that there was a warmer tone unleashed (just what I was lookin for!). I wouldnt call it darker, but defintely warmer, with a bassier bottom end. I still have all the chime, just not as sharp.

So running clean, I give it a big :up:

Now for overdrive:

I normally get my overdrive/crunch from my TS808 pedal I leave my amp clean, with lots of headroom, and punch it with my tubescreamer), but alas, I did not have me trusty pedal board with me: Its locked away in the sound room at church), so I just pushed the volume to 8-9, and brought up the master volume till the wife started yelling ( rofl ).

There was still a Tele presence, but not a dominating Tele presence. If I had to try and describe the tone, I would call it a Tele with an attitude. In other words, this aint my daddies tele!

In my book, this is another big :up:

Tomorrow I'l give it an even more in depth review!

Oh, and this was me all night long:



:D

[Jaybo]

That's awesome!

What was it like mixed with the neck pup? Are you going to keep the one you have?

[MDK2323]

That's great Stephen! Glad to hear you are happy with the new pup. I'm sure you'll love it with the TS808!

:cool:

[hotraman]

Nice to hear...
I still am quite happy with mine.
Anyway to post MP3's to this site?

[stephen]

Well I gave it a work out Sunday.

Amp: Pignose G40V (heavily modded into Plexi-Land), with an EV12 150watt speaker.

Effects: BBE Sonic Maximizer, Marshall Regenerator (flange), Boss SuperChorus, Ibanez TS808 RI tubescreamer.

I set my amp up for as much clean headroom as I can wring out of it (the EV12 really helps, plus I have two Sylvania 12AX7's, and one Phillips 12AT7 in V1), and get all my OD from my tubescreamer.

First, lil 59 bridge pup alone:

YEah! Lotsa attack, and crisp definition! With my amp I get ton's of bell harmonics just blossoming out. It is warmer sounding, with a little more bottom end than my 1/4 pounder was.

With the amp EQ'd for my Les Paul, I just plugged in, and no more Mr. Ice Pick! Woooo-Hoooooo! It's still brighter than my LP, and it still has that definitive Tele chime/twang, though it is more chime than twang now, but thats ok by me: I think its the perfect balance!

So my clean tones are EXCELENT!

Now splitting the pups:

I still have my 1/4 pounder in the neck, and looking on Seymores website, I saw that it is a little hotter than the lil59, so I was concerned about the balance between the two. Well, they balance perfectly together, and the combonation of them together is nice and warm, and very smooth sounding. Sweet! So comboing both bridge and neck, once again, my tones are excelent!

Now for some OD:

I run my tubescreamer's overdrive about the 3 O'Clock, the tone about 12, and the level to balance out between clean & OD.

Oh My Lord! this is one Hot-Rod Tele! THere is a lot of growl, snarl and snap on tap, and sustain for days! In overdrive mode it is barely recognizable as a Tele, but for me, thats ok, cause I prefer a humbucker OD sound.

Again, EXCELENT! on scale of 1 to 10 (10 being best), I'd say it scores a 13 1/2!

Now, I grab my LP, and this is the only thing I noticed (but I had the same issue with the 1/4 pounder too): The Tele just doesnt cut through as well. It's a drop in overall decibals. I'm gonna rectify it by gettting a BBE Boosta-Grande pedal, and set it up strictly for my Tele, so I have a good balance between my Tele and my LP.

So, this admitted rocker, with my very subjective view, has given a major two thumbs up vote for the lil 59. Those with more leanings towards country than I would probably not enjoy this as much, so I have to say that this is a pup that is really meant to rock, not twang (though in clean tones it still does).

[Jaybo]

:yeah:

I had a strat experience like that - where I switched different pups in and out, but I could just FEEL when the right ones finally got in there.

You're causing me to have some tele lust. lol

[stephen]

Well, its been over a month since dropping the lil59 in my Tele, and I'm still diggin it!

Matter of fact, it was too a point where before the lil59, my Les Paul was getting the lion's share of the guitar duties. Now, I have a hard time decided which one I wanna play!

Now I have one more mod I wanna do to my Tele, and that'll be more cosmetic than chasin after tone: I want to get a U shaped, left handed neck, so I can have a reverse headstock! I think at that point, my guitar will be very unique, and definitely, one of a kind.

[MadHatter]

mmmmm "U" shaped neck....

my only requirement in my next tele

[stephen]

Here's an update:

The lil 59 is most defintely a keeper, and staying in my Tele, but, the quarter pounder in the neck, is gone.

Two factors made me make this decision:

1) 60 cycle hum when just using the neck pup. It just drives me up the wall. Yeah, I could add a noise gate to my chain, but I dont want too, plain and simple.

2) My initial review: I had not really puttsed with the pup height enough to extract the best performance out of the lil 59. Once I did (and it was a HUGE difference for the better, and it already sounded good, the way it was), it was apparent that the 1/4 pounder just couldnt keep up with that HOT lil 59: Its banging out about 17k, while the 1/4 pounder is about 8k, which is hot for a neck single coil pup.

So I have been looking into several different possibilities as a neck pup replacement. Two styles seemd to stand out: A "rail type" single coil sized neck bucker, or a full sized humbucker.

After listening to several clips, and trying out many guitars that had the rail type single coil sized pups in the neck, I ruled them out: Either not enough oomph, or too gritty/dirty/muddy. Too my ears, a bridge pup can be a lot more forgiving, but the neck slot will really magnify the weak points of a pick up, and thats what happened with a closer look at this style in the neck slot.

So, full size bucker in the neck it is, but which one? I'm a big fan of SD pups, but I dont want to be tied down to only one style of pups (my lester has a 59 set in it, and my Tele has the lil 59 in the bridge), so I figured its time to see if I can mix and match.

I almost pulled the trigger on the GFS Crunchy PAF HOT (nice price, and good reviews), but I couldnt find a decent sound clip of one in the neck.

I looked around at several used name brands, until I stumbled across a hand wound custom Manlius ( Unbalanced coils, 4 conductor) that came out of a Telecaster. The guy sent me some sound clips: Wonderful tone. Very warm, sweet and articulate.

So I have pulled the trigger, and I cant wait to get it, and get it installed in my Tele!

[Brad]

Stephen, I do believe you're going to love the Manlius bucker. While it appears to be way overwound for a neck pup at a bit over 9K, it responds to your touch the way a good ol PAF does......but with a bit more oomph. THe Manlius sound beautiful played clean and with overdrive......well, it just flat sings.

This pickup should be a great match for the Lil 59'r. Glad it's going to a brother. Enjoy!

[stephen]

This pickup should be a great match for the Lil 59'r. Glad it's going to a brother. Enjoy!

Yeah, thats what I hear from many in the know, that it will be a good match for the lil59.

And I'm glad I was able to bless a brother by buying it from him!

[Brad]

Yes, it was a blessing! I've been out of work for over a year, so I've had to let a lot of gear go. I've been blessed to have it and I'm blessed it's going to a brother! After all, we know where our true treasure is!

I was also blessed in that the pickup I replace it with was won in a contest. It's a Zhangliqun PureHanwound humbucker. At a bit over 7K, it's a total different animal than the Manlius. As a total pickup junkie, I love trying new pups. As much as I dig the Manlius, the Zhang is just as amazing. A totally different sound, but it really works well in my chambered mahogany tele.

I'll write a reveiw of that one soon!

[refin]

I had some of the Lil' '59ers in a strat---they were punchy!

[stephen]

IT HAS ARRIVED!

Gonna see if I can get it set up this weekend!

I cant wait.................

[Tech Player]

That will be just lovely Stephen. You sure know how to describe your ear's and heart's reaction to different pickups, through a lot of high tech things, and a signal chain featuring a super modified amp.

Yes, you figured it out, that the Boosta Grande is the way to get your Tele up into Les Paul territory without changing your other carefully chosen settings.:)

Oh, I don't have a Boosta Grande, but I know what they do. I've just been playing a Les Paul tonight with an active booster onboard, and it's a similar experience, but not down at the feet. Sure, you know what you'll get when you boost a bucker, but can't always predict what they'll do to a single coil.

Man I'm glad you got BOTH pickups, and recently the neck specialized pickup from a brother.

Not changing the subject, but I would buy a set of buckers from a brother, for a Les Paul if he had gold covers, and low K ohm readings, while wax potted, such as Gibson '57 Classics or any SH1 59's, APH1 Alnico II's or Pearly Gates from SD.

[stephen]

Geez!

If I only had some spare time and a router, that pup would be in by now!

[Brad]

ARGHHHHH!!! I kept waiting for your review or the pickup.........now I know why! Route baby, route!

[stephen]

Heh-heh!

Sorry Brad! I'm shooting for this weekend.

I really want that pup in my guitar ASAP!

[Micter]

Geez!

If I only had some spare time and a router, that pup would be in by now!

Hello! McFly! :not_talking:

[stephen]

Call me slacker no more: The Manlius Pick-up is in! Finished it all up last night (yes, I took photo's of the work and the finished product: will post them tonight).

Maybe its the honeymoon period, but I am astounded by how good this pup sounds! Even my wife who I think is nearly tone deaf comments, "Wow! That sounds really clear!". Then my youngest son comes up (the other guitarist in the house), and says, "What did you do to your guitar?! That sounds awesome, for an "old-school" type sound (the punk). I mounted it too the body instead of suspending it from the pickguard.

Tonight, I'm gonna go over to STRATOPASTORS house and do some recording (got some song ideas), so I'm gonna really give this pup a workout tonight!

I'll try to get those photos up tonight.

[Brad]

Cool! Glad you like it. I think it's a tremendous sounding pickup myself, so I'm gald it worked out for you!